Grief is a completely normal experience and most children and young people can cope with the loss of a loved one with the support of family and friends, without the need to involve external agencies.

There are lots of things you can do to help your child(ren) to express their grief:

• Help them record their memories by making memory jars, collecting pictures in photo albums or writing a journal together
• Help them to recognise how their bodies feel when they are sad or angry or happy by playing games and thinking about what we look like with different emotions
• Watch a movie together and talk about how different characters may feel, there are many family films that have loss as a key theme.
• Take regular opportunities to share your memories of the person who died and reflect on how you feel when you remember them
• Make you child(ren) aware that you are there if and when they want to talk, but do not force them to talk if they feel uncomfortable.
• If they do not feel able to talk, they can draw their feelings or write them down for you to read when they have gone to bed and discuss the next day when they feel ready
• Be honest with them about how you feel, this helps children to be honest with you about how they may be feeling.